A group of more than 80 Afghan women who fled the Taliban regime to study in Oman say they run the risk of imminent deportation to Afghanistan after their scholarship financed by the United States was canceled as part of the trump administration cuts to foreign aid.
The students received an email on February 28 by informing them that the scholarship program managed by the United States Agency for International Development in the Middle East College of Oman had been completed along with thousands of other foreign aid initiatives, according to the email obtained by NBC News.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments. The difficult situation of Afghan students was first informed by the BBC.
In a letter to help groups, Afghan women are asking for urgent help to allow them to continue their studies abroad and avoid returning to a country where they say they will face some potentially mortal persecution and risks.
“The situation is catastrophic,” says the letter. “Being sent back to Afghanistan would mean the permanent loss of our education and exposure to severe risks, including oppression, insecurity and a future without opportunities. This is a life or death situation for many of us. ”
Afghan students were looking for undergraduate and postgraduate titles in Oman under the endowment of female scholarships, one of the numerous programs eliminated in the Trump administration effort to drastically climb up.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said on Monday that 83% of the USAID programs had been canceled after a six -week review and that the remaining programs would merge into the State Department.
“Please do not let our dreams destroy and the Taliban decide our destiny,” says the students’ letter. “We have fought very hard to get out of their hands, we will not live if we have to return to Afghanistan.”
The women’s program was launched in 2019 with an endowment of $ 50 million of USAID, according to Brian Le, Deputy Legislative Director of Honor, a non -profit group that works with veterans in the Congress of both parties in bipartisan initiatives. The interests of the endowment have covered the cost of the program, which was administered by USAID, without requiring additional annual funds of the United States government, said Le.
The non -profit groups are in conversations with the Oman government to try to resolve the situation, he said.
“What we are trying to avoid is your return to Afghanistan, which would functionally be equivalent to a death sentence for these women who have been helped by the United States to seek opportunities for higher education,” said Le.
While Afghan students’ letter said that 83 women were affected, he told him that it seems that more than 120 Afghas were cut the scholarship financing.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 after the withdrawal of the forces led by the United States of Afghanistan, they have reimposed draconian restrictions to women, including the prohibition of high school and higher education, which prohibits them from most of the employment and limits their freedom of expression and movement, according to human rights groups.
Representative Seth Moulton, a mass democrat, said that the elimination of the scholarship program was “shameful” and asked the Trump administration to reversed the course.
“The Trump administration believes that it is politically advantageous for Villenizar Usaid, but Americans must realize that behind canceled contracts and mass layoffs are now innocent lives now at risk,” News told NBC News in an email.
“In this case, these brilliant young women with the world ahead of them could receive what could be a death sentence in a matter of days, simply because they trusted a scholarship financed by the United States so that their education abroad.”
